African and African Diaspora Studies Department

The African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) Department, the first Black Studies program to grant Ph.D.s in the southern U.S., is committed to interdisciplinary research and creative production that explores questions of social justice for Black people around the globe. Established in 2010, its scholarship, cultural creativity, and pedagogical practices reflect the Department’s investment in comparative and transnational approaches, intersectional analyses, and critical theoretical frameworks. The Department supports the activist academic careers of its faculty members and coordinates with Black staff on University issues of relevance to UT’s communities and beyond. The Department’s pedagogical strategy rests on the premise that classrooms are powerful sites for social change.